General Studies Requirements

The State of Michigan requires teacher certification candidates to complete an approved program of general or liberal education, including English, literature, humanities, social sciences, mathematics, natural or physical sciences, and the arts.

The number of credits required in each area is based on a student’s degree program.

BACHELOR’S DEGREE
from the School of Education*

BACHELOR’S DEGREE
from another UM School/College (ex.LSA)**

Humanities: 12 credits, including English Comp

Humanities: 8 credits, including English Comp

Natural Science/Math: 12 credits

Natural Science/Math: 8 credits

Social Science: 12 credits, including Intro Psych

Social Science: 8 credits, including Intro Psych

*Also applies to students earning a 2nd Bachelor’s Degree.** Also applies to students who already hold a Bachelor’s degree from another institution and are pursuing certification only through the School of Education.

Teaching Majors

The State of Michigan requires that all teacher certification candidates have either a teaching major and minor or two majors. We have outlined general studies requirements and designed teaching majors and minors to benefit from the University of Michigan's rich academic resources while meeting State of Michigan requirements for provisional certification. Teaching Interns in the undergraduate secondary teacher education program choose from the following teaching majors and minors:

The music education major provides K-12 teacher certification. A minor in music education is not available. To learn about the requirements of the music education program, please contact the program directly: www.music.umich.edu.

Professional and Pedagogical Preparation

Each semester the focus of the professional coursework changes and adds to your evolving base of knowledge and understanding. The undergraduate secondary teacher education program includes two semesters of practicum and one semester of student teaching. There is a different focus for practicum each semester based on the course of study and emerging themes for that term.

Fieldwork

As a student in a professional program, clinical or field experience—experience in the real settings and circumstances of your chosen profession—is an essential part of your preparation. In the first two terms, you will, typically as part of a pair, spend six to eight hours per week in classrooms—observing the classroom in action, collecting data on student learning, and teaching practice in conjunction with your coursework, and contributing to instruction by tutoring, coteaching, and planning with cooperating teachers and your university partners.

The culminating field experience is the student teaching term, in which you will follow the calendar and schedule of your placement classroom for a period of 14-15 weeks. During this experience, you will spend five days per week for the full school day immersed in the classroom. You will slowly and deliberately take on all aspects of instructional responsibility, building toward lead teaching when you will be responsible for most or all aspects of the school experience for your grade 7-12 students.

School Partnerships

We have established and continue to promote partnerships with schools that have made commitments to collaborating in the education of future teachers. These schools serve youth who encompass a wide range of socioeconomic and academic backgrounds and reflect the racial and cultural diversity of public schools today. Placements in Detroit are available for those interested in learning more about urban education.

Program Total: 30-31 credits* Music Education Students will not take EDUC 307 or EDUC 302/304. Students will register for an equivalent experience through their major unit.

Criminal Background Check

Before you are eligible to begin the Teacher Education program you must take steps to satisfy criminal background check requirements for the School of Education and for the school district(s) in which you will be placed. You will receive instructions from your program coordinator about completing each step of the criminal background check.

Licensure in Michigan

In addition to the requirements of our program, the State of Michigan has requirements with which you must comply in order to receive teacher certification. These requirements are applicable to all of the teacher certification programs within the state. These requirements include CPR (child and adult) and first aid training; and successful completion of the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Professional Readiness Exam (PRE) and relevant subject-area tests.

CPR & First Aid Training

Michigan Public Act 18 of 2003 requires all teaching interns to be certified in CPR (child and adult) and first aid prior to being recommended for teacher certification. The legislation stipulates that this training must be completed through the American Red Cross or American Heart Association.

Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC)

The MTTC Professional Readiness Exam (PRE) and subject area tests are designed and administered by the Michigan Department of Education, and are meant to ensure that each certified teacher has the necessary general knowledge and subject area knowledge to be effective teachers in Michigan schools. Prior to being eligible to student teach, you must take and pass the Professional Readiness Exam (PRE), or have ACT scores that meet the PRE exemption requirement (Reading=22; Mathematics=22; English/Writing=24). Dates and locations of the test as well as practice tests are available on the MTTC website: http://www.mttc.nesinc.com/ . The Professional Readiness Exam is offered every month; four times a year in a paper/pencil format for $50 and every month at Pearson Testing Centers in a computer-based format for $140. The program strongly recommends you complete this requirement by the end of your first semester of the program. The PRE includes multiple-choice questions in the reading and mathematics sections and a constructed-response assignment in the writing section. The MTTC program currently consists of subject-area tests, including the world language tests, and a Professional Readiness Exam. The subject-area tests comprise multiple-choice questions, except for the world language tests, which comprise both multiple-choice questions and two or more constructed-response assignments.

Subject Area Tests

The subject area tests should not be taken before your final year in the program. We recommend that you wait until you have completed most or all of your major and minor university-based coursework before attempting the subject area tests.

Secondary and K-12 candidates: Before being recommended to the state for teacher certification, you must take and pass the subject area tests in your teaching major(s) and minor(s). As a secondary Teaching Intern you can expect to take at least three MTTC tests while in our program.

World Languages Teaching Interns

World languages teacher certification students are required to take and pass the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) test in their teaching major and/or minor before they can be recommended for certification. Contact Dr. Maria Coolican (mariajc@umich.edu) to arrange your test date.

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